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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Decatur pastor prays with Dems
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Aaron Gould Sheinin asheinin@ajc.com
Denver — The Rev. Cynthia Hale, pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, asked for God’s blessings at the opening of the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
Hale was chosen to deliver the invocation shortly after Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin brought the convention to order.
Here is a transcript of her remarks:
“Great and awesome God, as we gather in this place from all across the length and breadth of this nation, we pause to acknowledge you as the one in whom we live and move and have our being. You, oh God, created us in your image and likeness and invited us to partner with you in the stewardship of your world. We are called to be faithful over the earth, its people and resources.
“On this day as we gather to renew America’s promise, we are keenly aware of the challenges American families are facing. God, people are being hit hard by the economic downturn, the energy crisis and rising food costs, the mortgage mayhem, as well as the absence of affordable housing and health care. Parents desire and deserve to be able to give their children quality and affordable education from pre-school through college.
“Times are tough; people are struggling; some have lost hope. We know, God, that this is not your perfect will for any of your people. It is your desire that all people have these basic human needs met. It is your desire that all would prosper and be in good health. It is your desire that everyone would be treated with dignity and respect.
“As a nation and as a party, we are at a crucial time. We have an opportunity to not only make history, but to bring about change we can all believe in and restore hope to the hearts of women and men. Unite us as a party, oh God. Let us be one in this common purpose, to renew our promise so that we might live out our creed to be one nation under god, with liberty and justice for all.
“In your strong and mighty name, we pray. Amen.”
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Wanted, by a grandmother: Entrance to that stadium in Denver
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mae Dickson called the house this evening, right before dinner here in Kennesaw.
For most of us, the Democratic National Convention — and the GOP one, to boot — will simply be an extension of the Olympic events in Beijing. One or two evenings of entertainment in the glow of a neon fireplace, watching someone else sweat.
Will Hillary Clinton score in the 400-meter hurdles? Will Barack Obama clinch that eighth gold medal? Can John McCain shrug off those who question the birth certificate that puts his age at 45?
“Who knows?” is one response. “Who cares?” is another.
And the answer to both is Mae Dickson. This grandmother has put $368 on an early Thursday morning plane ticket to Denver that says she gets into the stadium where Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech that evening.
No hotel. Just an address: INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium.
“Believe me, I’m down to bare bones,” she said.
And all she wants is a free ticket that can’t be had in Denver for love nor money. That, my friends, is belief in a higher power.
Dickson called here to see if the Insider might possibly grease a wheel or two. She would not give her age. Possibly somewhere in the mid-50s. Dickson lives in northern Atlanta, in that netherworld between Buckhead and Sandy Springs.
She described herself as an entrepreneur, a specialist in biblical etiquette, capable of teaching good manners to children, teenagers or adults — especially at the remunerative, corporate level.
Dickson would make non-Southerners, whether black or white, blush with her emphasis on religion. She campaigned for Obama during the presidential primary season this winter. The grandmother handed out flyers. She called voters and tallied their leanings. When the campaign required, she marshaled her computer and — via e-mail — defended her man against against those who would tie him to the evil (or misunderstood) Jeremiah Wright.
But Dickson received her direction right from the top. In prayer, God pushed her toward that portion of the Bible in which Samuel anointed David as king of Israel, despite his lack of experience.
(Republican skeptics may now turn to the first chapter in the second Book of Bush, wherein the owner — former or otherwise — of a lowly and underperforming American League ball team is handed the keys to the kingdom. American League. Somebody explain why that wasn’t a tip-off.)
“I really believe his vision of change. This is his time. I just believe him to be the one, anointed by God,” Dickson said. “I really have a desire to be part of this.”
On the radio, talk show hosts have come to mock people like Dickson, referring to Obama as “the Chosen.” She has heard this.
“Be careful what you speak. Sometimes, what you speak becomes truth, even if you don’t mean it to be so,” the grandmother said.
She left us with an e-mail address for anyone who would like to grease her way into that Denver stadium: blueglow@rocketmail.com. Or, you can, send a note to this web site. She left us her cell phone number.
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Atlantan gets answers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Aaron Gould Sheinin asheinin@ajc.com
**Denver —” K.C. Christian, a single mother in Atlanta, briefly captured the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday evening, when her video-taped question was used as part of the convention’s “America’s Town Hall” segment.
Christian asked about Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s energy plans.
“I’m concerned about gas prices,” Christian said. “They are killing my budget. I’ve got a four-cylinder car and it costs me almost $50 to fill up my tank. It’s just ridiculous.”
Her question was answered live from the Pepsi Center by Aimee Christensen, an environmental activist and strategist.
She said Obama would give a $1,000 tax rebate to every American to help offset rising fuel costs, will “crack down on energy traders,” double fuel efficiency in American cars within 10 years and, within seven years, have 1 million plug-in hybrids on the road. What about Republican John McCain’s plan?
“Senator McCain’s plan unfortunately is the same thing we’ve had the last eight years, which is the oil companies’ plan,” Christensen said. “And it’s unacceptable.”
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Meanwhile, back in Atlanta, Chambliss goes up on TV
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Back-to-back political conventions generally empty the players out of our fair city. Even so, the U.S. Senate race goes on.
Somewhere, in a basement on West Peachtree Street, Democrat Jim Martin is locked in a dungeon, rewarded with a scrap of bread and a glass of water for every $2,300 contribution he squeezes out over the telephone.
Martin has not been seen in public since Aug. 6, the day after the Democratic run-off. Even then he was under close guard. We’re not ready to declare him a political prisoner yet, but that day is coming.
(Update: Word from Denver is that Martin has been allowed a brief parole this evening, to present himself at the Democratic National Convention as — potentially — the 60th senator who would frustrate the almighty God of Filibuster. Good conduct has its privileges.)
In the meantime, Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss is running like a man whose own polls show him just a tad under 50 percent.
Chambliss releases two TV ads tomorrow, which can be seen today on YouTube. Both are establishment pieces. In this one, the incumbent discusses his principles:
In the other, Chambliss lets his wife Julianne do the talking. See it here.
In neither commercial does Chambliss discuss his “Gang of Ten” activities on behalf of bipartisan energy legislation.
Despite the opposition of the Wall Street Journal and the Republican House delegation in Georgia, Chambliss’ office declared Tuesday that six more senators — three Republicans and three Democrats — had signed on to his approach.
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Reed, Abramoff and McCain the target of American Indians in Denver
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A caucus of American Indian political leaders in Denver is considering a resolution that ties convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff to Republican presidential candidate John McCain — through the person of Ralph Reed.
Again, the focus is that Atlanta fund-raiser.
This from Indian Country Today:
A draft resolution being considered for adoption by the First American Caucus reads in part: ”… lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his Republican cohorts have done irrefutable harm to tribes and their ability to fully participate in political campaigns …”
…The resolution, which was written jointly by several members of the caucus, states that Ralph Reed, a former Abramoff business associate, helped to organize a fundraiser held Aug. 18 for McCain’s campaign - despite assertions from the McCain camp that this is not the case.
It calls on the presumptive GOP presidential candidate, as well as the Republican National Committee, to renounce campaign involvement of those who have been involved in fraudulent activities.
”[T]he honest efforts of tribes to fully involve themselves in local state and national political campaigns has been damaged by the negative press, and the negative perceptions that were created by the dishonest actions of noted Republican activists who were associated with Jack Abramoff,” the resolution says.
Here’s the problem. Basically, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by McCain, found that Indian tribes — who were operating high-dollar casinos — knew exactly what they were getting when they hired Reed to turn out evangelicals to beat down gambling competition in nearby locales.
In other words, Tribe A was out to sabotage the livelihood of Tribe B. And this is one of the reasons, perhaps, why Reed was not called to testify. This kind of inter-tribal warfare wouldn’t have been a pleasant site.
McCain’s committee also found that Abramoff’s cheating of the tribes began after the lobbyist had cut his friend out of the money. In essence, Abramoff and an accompliced faked the services that Reed had been supplying in actuality.
This was at the bottom of the same story:
One delegate who asked to remain anonymous said she would like to further discuss the resolution …. before a final draft is voted on, perhaps as early as Aug. 27.
”We need to think in positive terms,” the delegate said. ”Change doesn’t mean we have to forget about the past, but we don’t have to dwell on it either.”
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Franklin calls for equality
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Aaron Gould Sheinin asheinin@ajc.com
Denver — Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said today’s anniversary of women gaining the right to vote should be a launching pad to working for equality around the world.
Speaking at a luncheon marking National Equality Day, Franklin challenged Americans “to insure that equality is not something that we just earn because other people have given it to us, but rather something we are challenged to be sure others have.”
National Equality Day exists because of another Georgian, former President Jimmy Carter, who signed an executive order creating it while president. This is the 31st anniversary of that proclamation and 88th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.
Carter also spoke Tuesday, to a ballroom packed with several hundred Democrats at the Doubletree Hotel Denver, the Georgia delegation’s home the week of the national convention.
Carter joked that he was surprised to learn when he got to Washington in 1977 that women did not dominate government.
“Because I had been dominated by my mother, by Rosalynn and by 9-year-old Amy,” he said, referring to his wife and daughter.
Carter said he discovered there were more than 3,000 laws and federal directives that were discriminatory toward women and he worked to overturn them.
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Barnes was vetted … sort of
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Aaron Gould Sheinin asheinin@ajc.com
Denver — A rumor floated through the Georgia delegation this past weekend that former Gov. Roy Barnes was vetted by the Barack Obama campaign last week.
The juicy story was that before picking U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) to be his running mate, Obama had Barnes checked out as a possible VP pick.
Like many such stories, this one had a kernel of truth, Barnes and the Obama campaign said.
While he was not being vetted as VP, the Obama campaign said, Barnes was being checked out to be an Obama surrogate.
Tuesday morning, Barnes confirmed that.
“I know they want me to be available to respond to whomever (Republican candidate John) McCain chooses as vice president,” Barnes said before speaking to the breakfast gathering of the Georgia delegation.
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Unity was the message
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Aaron Gould Sheinin asheinin@ajc.com
Denver— The pundits on CNN last night were lamenting what they called a lack of message among Democrats at the opening night of the party’s national convention.
Political consultants James Carville and David Gergen, representing the left and right, respectively, each were critical of the Democrats for not attacking Republican nominee-to-be John McCain or President Bush and for offering little in the way of of specific policy ideas.
But this morning, at the Georgia delegation breakfast, delegate R.J. Hadley said he thinks that was by design.
“Unity WAS the message,” said Hadley, an Obama delegate from Rockdale County. That’s him in the picture, taken last night from the floor of the Pepsi Center, where the convention is being held.
Hadley said the opening night was about Democrats coming together, not about the other side. There’s plenty of time for that in the next three nights, he said.
Fellow delegate Steve Leeds, an upledged delegate backing nominee-to-be Barack Obama, agreed. U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy’s emotional appearance was the highlight, Leeds said, as was a “strong and warm” speech from Michelle Obama.
“I couldn’t disagree more” with CNN’s take, Leeds said.
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